Pre-E3 2009: MX vs. ATV Reflex Hands-on

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Rainbow Studios heads back to the track in a big way.

By Chris Roper

I've been a fan of Rainbow Studios' work for many, many years now, starting way back with the original Motocross Madness title for the PC. Years later, now under the ownership of THQ and with ATVs added to the mix, the studio has most recently released MX vs. ATV Untamed. After roughly a decade of work in the realm of off-road racing, Untamed made it look to seem as if Rainbow had reached its peak and that there wasn't a whole lot more to do in the genre.

It hopes to change all of that with MX vs. ATV Reflex. The game features some very big changes to the fundamental workings of its franchise, both in terms of the controls as well as how you interact with the track.

Let's start with the controls. Instead of simply having the left analog stick control your vehicle and rider as one unit, Reflex introduces separated control for the two. The left analog stick controls your ride while the right now controls your body, allowing you to lean into or out of turns, or forward or backward to shift your body weight. This is inherently different than a single-stick setup in that leaning your body does not affect the angle of your vehicle, though the physics interaction between the two may do so.

Snow can be dragged across the track.

In practice, you can just play the game like any other racer using only the left analog stick and you'll probably be fine. Using your body, however, allows you to refine how you tackle the course, and for my money, makes the experience more engaging. Leaning your body into a turn will allow you to make tighter turns, while leaning out (which is impossible with a single-stick setup) can allow you to powerslide around a bend more easily.

I'm a fan of all sorts of racing games, and especially technical titles like Gran Turismo because I enjoy the play between the steering, gas and brakes. In my time with Reflex, I found that the body control added another layer to this and actually made it noticeably more fun just to drive around because of this. I can't say for sure that I was doing a great job with it as I didn't have a lot of reference for the tracks (and it was the first time I'd played it, obviously), but it felt to me like I was able to pick up the extra control mechanic pretty much instantly, and it felt like second nature within minutes. In short, I'm really digging this setup so far.

The right stick does more than just lean as it also now controls your stunts. Similar to the trick setup from EA's Skate, you perform simple gestures to pull off tricks, though holding in a single direction will still perform basic stuff, like a Can Can. The clutch button (which is by default assigned to the left shoulder button) is held to signify that you want to perform a stunt, and then you simply input whatever gesture or direction you want. A tail whip, for example, is done by holding down on the right stick as you exit a jump and then swinging the stick to either the left or right. If you hold the finishing angle, your rider will hold the trick. Simple, but effective.

The stunt mechanics have changed, and for the better from what we've seen.

Stunt changes extend beyond the input controls as you're no longer adding to a relatively arbitrary score total. Instead, you'll get scored by judges at the end of a stunt event, each of which will focus on a different area of your routine. So one judge will base his score on variety, another on technical difficulty, etc. You'll still get some sort of feedback during the round so that you can have an idea of how you're doing, but you won't be staring at a score total anymore, which I for one think is great.

One really cool thing about the trick system is that I'm told it's based not only on the pre-existing tricks, but anything you make up as you go. So if you decide to catch some big air and twist your vehicle horizontally while flipping, even if that's not an actual trick, the game will pick it up and reward you accordingly.